thelesterlee
Full terms for Sam Darnold: 3 years, $100.5M with $55M guaranteed and $37.5M in Year 1, per
Mike Garafolo— Ian Rapoport (@rapsheet1.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 2:30 PM
What does Sam Darnold bring to the Seattle Seahawks?
After trading Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders, the Seattle Seahawks needed a quarterback.
And this is coming from a Sam Howell truther.
My man was balling out on a Commanders team with no direction—where everyone in the building kind of had their bags packed—ready to be fired the moment the clock struck 00:00 in the final game of the season.
But yea, Sam Darnold is better than Sam Howell.
Probably.
He was objectively the best free agent QB available—like, the Seahawks can convince their fans to keep coming to the stadium on Sundays for Sam Darnold.
Tough to get folks to spend their entire paychecks on a Sunday afternoon of watching Daniel Jones trip over his own feet while throwing a dart, directly into the hands of a D-Linemen.
Also love Darnold re-uniting with offensive coordinator, Klint Kubiak—who he worked with in San Fran two seasons ago and who, last season, crafted the no. 1 scoring offense in the NFL—well, until the New Orleans Saints fell off a cliff and Derek Carr started Derek Carr-ing.
Darnold is coming off a 2024 Pro Bowl season where he led the Minnesota Vikings to a 14-win season—their highest win total since the ’90s.
Here’s Darnold’s stats from his miraculous 2024 season:
- 4,319 passing yards (5th in the league, literally one yard fewer than Geno Smith)
- 35 passing touchdowns (5th)
- 207 first downs (6th, 2 shy of Geno Smith)
- 102.5 passer rating (6th)
Darnold was objectively a Top 10 QB last season, even finishing 10th in MVP voting.
It’s always a positive when your team adds a player worthy of MVP votes.
What could go wrong?
I’m not sure this is common knowledge, but Sam Darnold has sucked most of his NFL career.
Sam Darnold has thrown over 3,000 yards with 10+ touchdowns once. 5 years ago.
Geno Smith has reached those marks each of the last 3 seasons with Seattle.
Darnold had the best season of his career playing under Kevin O’Connell—one of the best offensive coaches in the NFL, and throwing to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison—one of the best-receiving duos.
The Seahawks just cut Tyler Lockett and traded DK Metcalf to the Steelers.
Soooo Seattle is banking on a QB coming off an outlier season to fly into Washington and replicate his unique, uncharacteristic success, with less talented players and unestablished coaches.
I have no idea what Seattle’s plan is.
They traded their QB1 and WR1 for draft picks—something a rebuilding team does—and then gave Sam Darnold $55 million guaranteed to make sure they stay juuuust relevant enough to never be in a position to draft a QB better than him.
In the last two games Darnold played—against the Detroit Lions in Week 17 for the potential first seed in the playoffs and then Minnesota’s playoff loss to Los Angeles—Samuel went 43-for-81 (53%) for 411 yards with 1 touchdown, 1 interception, a fumble and was sacked 11 times—holding the ball too long because he was afraid of making a mistake.
The 49ers are in a weird spot where giving Brock Purdy the money he’s earned may destroy their roster balance.
Matty Stafford is old and oft-injured.
The Arizona Cardinals are the Arizona Cardinals.
And the Seattle Seahawks are taking advantage of the NFC West’s weakness by giving Sam Darnold a bag and no good teammates.
Ok. Y’all got it.
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